Spartan

The first part is why I asked for it to be limited to all, then people have to request to be in it. Prevents a massive crowd of folks just unloading on each other, especially folks who would just hop in once a month or after some major political event to pitch in vocally. Small groups can establish civility and etiquette, then you slowly expand. Gen chat should be a NHL discussion channel but some people apparently don't like it lol.

Perhaps gatekeeping was a poor suggestion - I'm fine with anyone being part of it as long as they can maintain civility in it. Folks who are known to explicitly troll or don't have anything serious to say shouldn't be part of it, just like the finance channel. Similar standards to entry

I've seen it being handled, therefore I have some faith.

I don't think it's unfamiliar to many that the VHL general server has a "no politics" rule that was instituted due to past discussions where political stances and people's feelings clashed, leading to hurt feelings and general chaos. However, I think it's also somewhat apparent that there is a general subsection of the VHL population that does enjoy participating in political/politically-related discussion, and can maintain a level of civility and courtesy, without taking political into personal. Therefore, I'd like to suggest adding a politics channel to the VHL general server with some clauses in effect. Similarly to the #finance-and-stonks channel, I'd advise for the politics channel to be by invite only, therefore somewhat gatekeeping the people who can participate in said discussion. Sure, this excludes people, but primarily along the same standards as the finance channel, where only folks who participate in serious, civil discussion are allowed in. Folks who break that standard are removed, and the general population is not allowed in without a personal request. The finance channel sets a precedent for this type of channel to exist, so I'd hope that the mods are more willing and able to assign that permission based on the user's history in the server, barring folks who are unable to participate in political discussions without making it personal. I don't know what pushback I'll get from this, but I suppose a few counter-arguments to this will be: Q: "Why not just use the thunderdome?" A: Well, I'd assume that the majority of people in the server keep the thunderdome muted because it's not a place anyone expects to have a serious discussion in. It's for muted folks, spammers and counters, activity that most of the population doesn't want to see. Q: "Too much work, why should we even bother?" (from staff) A: I think that it's quite clear that it's a topic that people like discussing, but there aren't really any great platforms on discord for the VHL population to partake in it. Creating a whole new server would be significantly more work, and it's relatively easier to have a discord channel than starting a mega-thread in the general discussions section of the forum. With the kind of "demand" that exists in the league and mods being paid more for their job, as well as the standards already set by the finance channel, it doesn't seem like a massive step in a different direction, to me at least . Feel free to ask more questions, argue against it, or whatever. Just my two cents about something I'd like to see

And this is where I fail lmfao

It's finally draft day!!!!!! Maybe this time I'll keep my word count under 500 lol. But it's a very exciting day for 16 teams in the VHL and all the prospects eligible to be selected. I remember my draft day in S72, pretty sure I was moving out of my apartment at the end of my junior year in college. Now a full year forward, I've graduated college and it's the dawn on the S78 draft. Exciting times. Moscow has reached out to a number of players, and so far almost all the interviews have gone very well. There are a lot of excellent users in this draft, regardless of their TPE or earning, and I wish I had more picks and roster space to be able to take them all. Difficult decisions are going to have to be made tonight, but I'm grateful for the advisors in my corner who have helped through the process. It's been a tough but fun process, and the future of Moscow has never looked brighter. Funny what can happen when you actually trade for picks, and don't trade them away, eh? It's also been pretty odd to know basically how the top 5/6 picks will shake out well in advance of the draft, I've noticed a lot more communication and transparency between GM's in similar pick ranges in the VHL than in other leagues. Not a complaint at all, rather knowledge that's nice to have on hand. Benefits multiple parties in that sense, so I have a lot of respect for Gus, Ricer and McWolf for their willingness to be open and transparent. Lastly, life has just been chaotic so I wasn't able to work on VSN's S78 Mock Draft (check it out here!), but I'm planning on putting together an S79 "Way Too Early Mock Draft" sometime next week to get some hype started for the next draft. Will be a fun project to work on with the Scouting department! Word Count: 329 (success!)

Congrats McW!!!!

Thrilled to lock up my man, @IHateBobNutting, for the immediate future. Moscow Moscow Moscow!

as someone who has taken multiple statistics classes, the first few sentences hurt me to my core to read lmao, but you somewhat saved it with the explanation of what you could theoretically do to figure it out. P. a. i. n. But, does make a good point that I was thinking about earlier today while reading an article about how the pens and islanders are both phenomenal at home, garbage away. Might actually look into it for a specific team over the seasons, overall league stats would likely be too much effort for me. Nice concept, execution has....room to improve

Can take whichever player @OrbitingDeath doesn't select, I don't mind doing either one

Claim 2/2

shit, ok. you will be missed riley

in and down to GM

the irony of this in conjunction with your sig is fucking hilarious

Ya I'd use the profile field for render so I can display my everlasting love for John Marino

New PC Q's (Week ending 5/9) 1. The Draft Lottery Tournament is over, and we came last. After the last game, a reporter comes up to you and stupidly asks, "why did you guys suck?" What's your response? 2. If you answer before the lottery, which picks do you think we'll get? (We can get any combination of 2 picks between 1st and 3rd overall). If you're answering after the lottery, did we do well? Or did we get shafted? 3. There's been mild chatter in the LR about not having an official AGM for Moscow. Do you think I should hire one? Why? 4. Now that we're in the offseason, what's your training routine like? 5. If you could play a prank on any player, prospect or staff member on Moscow, who would it be and what would you do? 6. Say you quit your job as a VHL player and decided to be a Youtuber/Streamer/Etc. What would you stream or post videos about?

Is this a challenge?

Check out the "standings" tab on the portal, in the "pro league" dropdown.

As some of you may have seen, I accidentally turned a VHL.com article into a 1k word media spot for the 2nd time in a row. It has had a costly effect on me, as I have lost 1 uncapped TPE for the month of April in both the EFL and the SBA. Therefore, I will make sure to write no more than 300 words here to ensure I can use this for an affiliate check, at the risk of writing incomplete statements and ideas. Mainly, I'd like to chat about the Moscow LR. I believe I had stated in a VHL.com article towards the beginning of the season that I wanted to open up the Moscow LR on Discord to more people, aka make it a bit more public. Up until that point, the LR was basically only home to players on the team and alumni. That's not a knock on the LR, as having a small LR is intimate and a great way to exclusively chat with people you may not have interacted with in the past. It's how I met and built a friendship with folks like @Telkster, @fever95, @UnkemptCL4PTP and others that I simply never crossed paths with otherwise. However, opening it up to some outsiders/guests has had a net positive impact on the team. Folks like @Renomitsu , @Brewins15, @McWolf and @Vkobe-vhave absolutely no roots in Moscow, but are welcome visitors to the LR and foster some great discussions and interactions. While there are times that folks need to be sent to the gulag (@Wolverine), I feel like opening up the LR has been a net positive gain for the LR. It's still relatively intimate, without the general clutter and chaos of the VHL general server, but just enough chaos and unpredictability to keep it fun and lively. Fostering an active and engaging LR was something I really wanted to do in Vegas, and was lucky to be able to have one of the more active LR's during my time there. I just hope to be able to continue the trend, and for that, I'd like to keep adding friendly faces to the LR to just hang out in a chill environment. If you're interested in joining and hanging out, DM me! I wrote more than 300 words. Fuck.

#ShareTheAward

It's a problem man, I just can't shut up and press send once I hit the word count. If it comes to mind, it has to be written down lol.

Thanks for the read and review! Always happy to get feedback/responses to what I write. Regarding the VHL team wants/needs, I know VSN Scouting will be putting out a mock draft after the prospect interviews, so that'll be much more comprehensive look at each team's needs. Hopefully it's informative! Also, had to talk about the draft and how I was thinking about it while being coy lol, can't ever reveal my intent. That being said though, I genuinely do think that there is a lot of talent at the top of the draft, and I know GM's will have to make some very tough decisions. Not even 1oa will be a slam dunk pick, so the draft lottery and the next week or so will be really interesting to follow along. As per the defensemen/wingers thing, I'm honestly really excited and curious to see how that plays out. I remember my last draft in the M, where there were just a few defensemen overall in the draft, so a lot of forwards dropped, and defensemen went on a tear in the 1st/2nd rounds. Houston gave up a significant amount of draft capital to acquire a full defense corps, which in other seasons such as S74/S75, was pretty easy to get. In your case though, I think your TPE and earning should put you a tier higher than that 150-180 cluster I mentioned. Unless someone has a really strong tie with a significantly lower TPE player, I'm fairly confident that you'll be a mid-late first rounder. But anything can happen, and that's the beauty of it!

Yeah I need to learn to not elaborate on every thought that pops into my head. I'll blame my lack of affiliate check claims on my inability to write less than 300 words in one sitting.

Time for the monthly VHL.com to claim as affiliate checks! Anyways, since the last media spot/blab, our final regular season position was determined, as well as the projected pick ranges for our two first rounders. For the second season in a row, I'm excited that Moscow holds 2 picks in the top 3, also holding the projected 1st and 2nd overall selections. Luck's really been on our side so far, as two trades with projected contenders in the past two seasons have ended up with Moscow receiving the 1st overall pick, or at least the best odds for it. Do I expect this trend to continue? Hopefully not, as I'd hope we won't be trading for 1st round picks when we become a contender. I'd rather see that kind of luck show up in our sims in the next few seasons. Plus, roster space is starting to get tight, as we're looking at having 4 forwards, 1 defenseman and a goalie coming up from our prospect pool for next season, not counting our two 1st round picks in this draft who are likely to also start on the pro roster. It's going to be a challenge to manage all of these VHL caliber players while still giving everyone meaningful time and also making sure we stay under the cap. More specific thoughts on this draft: I'm pretty excited about the top 6-7 prospects in this class. I think nearly all of them can be valuable day 1 players for Moscow, and likely won't need another season in the M. Markinson and Reikkinen are the clear top 2 defenders in the class, although it's a decently deep class for defensemen with 15 actives over at least 120 TPE. Defense is definitely a need for Moscow, especially as it's the one area of our roster where we don't have many young players, or players ready to make immediate contributions to the Menace on the ice. While we have Tristan, Kamkar and Tipton all at S75 or younger, we're still looking for a franchise "top defenseman" to be the leader in the position group both on and off the ice. We're guaranteed to have our selection of at least one the top 2, but I think Sova and Tavau also merit strong looks. Seabasstard and Tallinder are the clear top centers, with Tessier also up there. All three will likely be ready to play in the VHL, although I suppose there may be a little bit of ambiguity with Tessier at 229 TPE, so I think the time between now and the draft will clear up his situation. Giersbergen is likely to stay down another season, which in terms of goalies, isn't going to make much of a difference. It's just 8 fewer career starts at worst, which is negligible in the long run. Regarding forwards in this class, there's a decent level of depth for centers, but just a few high end wingers. Anze Miklavz, Henri le Massif and Alex Johnston are likely to go higher than projected, mainly because the defensive depth of this class can allow for defensive needy teams to hold off on selecting one early. I think it'll be interesting though to see how teams will value defense, as there are 7 defensemen within 30 TPE of each other in the 180-150 range, which is a relatively easy gap to catch up to. But wingers will definitely be a valued position in this draft, so expect a run on them in the first round. Yes, yes, I know that centers can play winger. But I'd imagine folks would prefer to play in their natural position, especially as they're likely to have invested TPE into FO, making them a less effective forward overall. I know centers in recent seasons have hinted at or expressed frustration with not playing the position they created to play, so I'm thinking as if teams will draft players to play their natural position. Lastly, goalies are an interesting area here. There are really only 2 top goalies here, with about 50 TPE separating Giersbergen and Greiss. Both players have developed nicely since entering the VHLM, though timing really explains the gap between Giersbergen and Greiss. Had Greiss created sooner, he'd probably rival Giersbergen to be the top goalie in this class though I know GM's interested in goalies will have to decide who they think will have the better long term value. Both goalies are likely to stay down for another season, but I don't think there are many teams who will be looking for a new, starting goalie. DC is the main team that comes to mind, so despite them not having their own first round pick, it may be a blessing in disguise as they have their 2nd round pick, which should be high enough to take one of these two goalies to eventually replace Wolski. I know that I'm keeping an eye on these two, mainly because Malone is S74, with regression just 2 seasons away. Bowman could blossom into being the starter, but I suppose that it's always nice to try to be prepared for the future. Overall, I think this draft class has essentially held to the expectations set by myself and a few other GM's towards the beginning of the season. Very strong at the top, with 4 or 5 players ready to start in the VHL immediately. There's another small pocket of players who are likely to also be mid-first rounders, and then the group that comprises the late 1st can be lumped in with most of the players projected for the 2nd round. There's a tad bit more spread on this class than before, but a mix of familiar and fresh users along with mixed histories will certainly play a factor into where their players go. This will be my first full offseason, since I was named GM just a few days before the S76 draft, so I'm excited to have the entire offseason and this playoff period to chat with the players in this draft and work with my scouting crew. I've always believed in building internally, although my impatience leads to me trading picks and players for more established players to speed up a rebuild and contend sooner. However, I think that the plan that I set for Moscow is going well (famous last words eh?), so I'll continue to make an effort to stick to it and hopefully put together a contender with the ultimate goal of winning cups. Word Count: 1,085